SA Rugby and the Canal+ Group have concluded a multi-year renewal of their domestic broadcast rights agreement, keeping SuperSport as the exclusive broadcast rights holder for all SARU domestic competitions as well as Springbok Women's and junior age-group matches across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The deal marks the first rights renewal agreement between a major South African sports federation and Canal+ since the French broadcaster completed its acquisition of MultiChoice Group in September last year. In South Africa, SuperSport channels are supplied by Canal+ Africa to MultiChoice, which distributes them via its DStv platform.
SARU President Mark Alexander described the outcome as the product of "a thorough and extensive series of engagements" and expressed confidence in the new partnership structure. SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer noted that broadcasting rights remain "fundamental to the health and sustainability" of the sport, pointing to a partnership with SuperSport that now stretches back more than 30 years to the organisation's first agreement in the 1990s.
Canal+ Africa CEO David Mignot framed the renewal as part of a broader commitment to local content investment across the continent. Canal+ Director for Sports Content in English and Portuguese-speaking Africa, Rendani Ramovha, added that the agreement reinforces the broadcaster's obligation to DStv subscribers.